Mohammed Qamruddin was a Pakistani citizen. He entered Assam from Islamabad to Dhaka and then through the Bangladesh border. He had a Pakistani passport. After that, he was provided with all the necessary Indian documents. His name also appeared on the electoral roll. Since he was receiving funding, he soon became a ‘social worker’. In 1996, he even contested the Assembly election from the Jamunamukh Assembly constituency (No. 90) in Assam! At that time, T.N. Seshan, Rajiv Gandhi’s former Cabinet Secretary and a courtier of the Gandhi family, was the Chief Election Commissioner! And, interestingly, T.N. Seshan, who allowed a ‘Pakistani infiltrator candidate and Bangladeshi infiltrator voters’ to undermine democracy, was given massive PR at the time as a ‘strong, strict and honest officer’! Some people still haven’t come out of that intoxication. Well, since the subject of T.N. Seshan has come up, let me share one more piece of information. The P.V. Narasimha Rao government made changes in the Election Commission and appointed two more Commissioners. The system of having three Election Commissioners that we see today began at that time. Note this carefully: they were appointed by ‘Narasimha Rao, not Congress’! The Gandhi family was furious with Narasimha Rao, and this was one of the major reasons among many others. Through the then CEC T.N. Seshan, the Gandhi family challenged in the Supreme Court the decision to give the other two Election Commissioners powers equal to those of the CEC! Today, the very people who are crying foul that the two Commissioners were wronged had challenged this very system in the Supreme Court. The case was heard by a five-judge Constitution Bench, and on 14 July 1995, the court unanimously (5-0) dismissed Congress’s Seshan’s petition and upheld the structure of a multi-member Election Commission, as well as equal participation of the Chief Election Commissioner and the other Election Commissioners in the decision-making process. (Important: The provision for decisions to be taken by majority was also upheld by the court through this very judgment. In the present case, the Election Commission will rely on this 1995 judgment in court. There can be differences of opinion or dissent in the decision-making process. But in all the decisions taken regarding SIR, whatever was decided by majority or unanimously was ultimately implemented.) Now let us return to the main issue. A Pakistani candidate contesting an election in India was not some peak-level anomaly. As time went by, the situation only got worse. In a separate case (‘Saira Begum & Others vs. Government of Assam’), Justice B.K. Sharma of the Gauhati High Court, in 2008, made an extremely alarming observation on record — “Bangladeshi nationals have become kingmakers in deciding who will win elections in Assam.” This was not said by any BJP leader, but by the court itself after examining all the statistics, data and evidence!! --- Those opposing SIR know that Indian voters have rejected them. Therefore, they want illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators to be included in the electoral rolls again. But they are certain that this wish will not be fulfilled. They do not want to put in the hard work of going to the ground, raising people’s issues and working for the people in order to win elections. There is an enormous ‘disconnect’ between these people and the public. It is a pathetic situation of ‘unable to dance, so blaming the floor’. Therefore, understand this: opposition to the ‘purification’ of electoral rolls is not merely a political issue! Congress has been unable to form a government even once in Odisha for the last 26 years, Tripura for 33 years, Gujarat for 36 years, Bihar for 36 years, Uttar Pradesh for 37 years, Bengal for 49 years and Tamil Nadu for 59 years. Is Congress doing all this merely to win elections? No. They have now shifted to Plan B. 1/2